Flight of an Angel
by Syizih
Summary: Story requested by xSacredHearts: A girl from Gongaga, Zack's hometown, and a close childhood friend, comes to Midgar to follow in his footsteps. Will she be able to reach her goals and in turn get mixed in with the twisted fate that occurs between the characters of Crisis Core, or flee before she gets herself in too deep? Part of the Close Characters Chronicles. (Contains no YAOI)
1. Prologue

She looked up as far as her eyes could see, shuddering as an involuntary shudder slowly found its way from the back of her neck down to the small of her back after finding she couldn't see any farther than maybe the tenth or fifteenth floor. The incredibly tall, incredibly dark building in front of her easily was as intimidating as she had heard about throughout her lifetime, or even seen from afar, never imagining it being this... this... _colossal_.

She closed her eyes, taking deep breaths to calm her ever-increasing nerves. _This is what I've waited for_, she told herself. _This is what I want. This is what I_ _deserve, more than anything else in the world. I can get everything I've ever dreamed of... All I need to do is_ _move..._

She lifted her hand from her side to brace the hilt of the sword in the sheath on her waist, tightening her grip until it almost hurt, as if that itself would fulfill her request for a grant for some sort of stilling comfort. Her nerves were continuously unwinding, and she was struggling to contain her composure. At this point, even walking forward into the overpowering building seemed too tedious a task.

* * *

Ever since she was only but a little girl, SOLDIERs had come to the small village where she grew up. They were strong, fearless men in her eyes. They had no faults. They would arrive at a drop of a hat when a terrorizing threat had appeared, one beyond what the strongest fighters or the smartest strategists in the village could handle, fixing the problem with the most incredible ease and would leave as if it hardly required a basic reserve of strength. No questions asked, no thanks necessary.

She was the only one who could see the incredulous behavior positively however. Everyone else seemed almost frightened by them, as if they would die if they looked at these wonderful men the wrong way. Well, almost everyone else.

One of the younger boys - Zack was his name - became almost famous for his admiration of the bold warriors. She could still hear the sound of her mother's voice as she gossiped with her aunts.

"How sad it is that such a wonderful boy is wasting himself on such foolish ideas as becoming a SOLDIER himself. It's bad enough that they come here with this reactor, stealing away all our more intelligent men to run it, abandoning all the jobs they had before, forcing us women to run it ourselves, but then they put these ideas into our youth, as if becoming a SOLDIER, something so unnatural... almost as if they weren't even human anymore..."

Of course the ideas about the reactor belonged to her mother and her mother alone. Everyone else thought of it as a blessing, the very thought of a town like Gongaga being chosen for such an honor, it was beyond the townspeople's very beliefs. Yet my mother had always hated the reactor. She told everyone that her intuition told her it was wrong. And she wasn't one to disagree with her intuition. So she stuck with the idea, no matter how people pointed out to her how obviously wrong she was. So full of pride... She never would give to reason.

As her daughter, a need to protect her ideas was necessary. Whenever anyone would complain to her about her mother's stupidity, she would of course defend her till the grave. But she secretly always disagreed.

When her father passed away in a landslide, her mother finally lost the last firm hold she hand on her sanity. She took everything her father took pride in and threw it down the old well. It disgusted her, she had said. Everything else about her father, including their very memories of him, were discarded. Her sisters almost cracked under all the pressure that enveloped their home. As the eldest, she did whatever she could to help her mother, her sisters, her aunts, her uncles, her cousins, (her family was the biggest in the entire village) but eventually, her mother gave up and left them all with the vile memory. She was only 13 at the time.

While searching through some of her mothers items, she found a note, handwritten in her mother's writing. It was hard to read as if it was scribbled at the last-minute in a rush to get the idea down on paper before it was forgotten, water stains spotted across the page. After struggling for a couple of minutes to compile the information in her brain, she finally realized what its purpose was. It seemed to be an apology note written to her father. Near the end, her mother had written that if only she could get the nerve to throw everything she had down the well, she could be at peace...

She had actually thought about it at the time, digging everything her mother had loved and throw it down the well. But after thinking logically, she wouldn't want her family to believe that everything that had happened to her mother should happen to her as well...

Instead, she figured she'd do a reverse movement. She could lower herself down the old dry well on the vines that had grown along the inside walls. She could then collect everything that belonged to her father at the bottom, bring it back up to the surface and bury both of their most precious objects with both of her parents at the gravesite.

The very next morning, as soon as the sun had risen, she walked outside with a box to carry the items in and a rope to hoist up the box with. She made a tight knot, securing the box and rope together, and then the rope to a rusted metal bar beside the well.

After being self-assured that the box had made it to the ground, she began to make her descent. At the bottom, she collected her father's possessions. They were mostly older artifacts, as her father enjoyed to look at them as if looking into a portal to a different world itself. A pipe, a blue-green flowered vase (broken due to the fall), a small jewelry box, a rapier... She carefully examined each object as she placed it in the box, remembering her father with each one.

She climbed back out and lifted the box off of the bottom of the well, so relieved that everything had gone smoothly that she almost fainted. Smiling, she walked back to the house, deciding that she would clean each item until they were spotless, just as her father himself had kept them.

The pipe was made of wood; it only needed to soak for a while. The vase shards would just have to be satisfied with being polished, as it was too difficult to gather all the pieces in the limited light in the hole she retrieved it from, therefore she couldn't piece back together. The jewelry box could be polished as well...

The sword however was a different story. She could remember her father telling her how delicate you had to be with it or else it would chip off the blade due to how thin it was. And it was true. Being underground for five years hadn't helped its condition, and it now had several missing spots on the edges of the blade where metal had once been.

Feeling guilty, she decided to take to the local weapon store owner to see if he could fix it. And he could, doing her one better as well. He had altered the blade in a way where it looked almost exactly like it did years ago, but the physique of it had changed to one that was no long one of an artifact, but one of a weapon. And that's how she had met this boy, the one who would join SOLDIER if his dreams had its way.

He had talked to the store owner when she had walked in to pick it up. He was discussing the best weapon to bring if he was to pass his SOLDIER exam in Midgar. It seemed as if his dreams did have the upper hand.

She interrupted their conversation to ask about her order, apologizing to not make a bad impression as she had never talked around Zack before, eyeing him out of the corner of her eye to see how he took her rudeness. He didn't seem to mind the comment, but was more curious about why a girl her age was in a weapon shop. They had made some small talk for a while, answering his question in the conversation.

The man finally came back with her weapon. Zack complemented it, asked the man a few more questions and walked outside, promising to come back to buy his own weapon. She paid for her own weapon and examined it. Truthfully, she didn't really know anything about weapons, but it had looked so incredible that she gave the man a 50% tip. Her father would've been so proud of it.

Walking outside, she had found Zack leaned against the building. He looked up at her and flashed her one of those know-it-all smiles and made a couple of crack comments that pissed her off before asking, or more of telling, her about her own knowledge of sword-fighting. Before the conversation was over, he had somehow convinced her to allow him to teach her how to fight.

Over the next year, they had become quite close friends, spending most of their time together, except for the times when he would leave to pursue his SOLDIER goals. And he eventually reached them. Soon, she found herself having to wish him good-bye and good luck.

She had kept her father's sword despite burying everything else. She had always figured that he really wouldn't mind her keeping it. She also kind of liked how it was a rapier. She had a crush on Genesis ever since Zack had explained what he was like (even though what he knew was only word by mouth) and felt like wielding a rapier like he did somehow made them closer. Not that she would ever admit it to anyone. Not her family, not even Zack.

After she turned 16, she made up her mind that she was going to become a SOLDIER too. This she did share with everyone (except Zack due to him being in Midgar) and made it clear that she was going to be the first woman to join SOLDIER. She was sure of it.

She had put her sisters in the care of her family and set out to Midgar. She found a place to live, a job to work, and now here she was, standing in front of the Shinra building itself. All she needed to do at this point was just hand in her application and fill out some forms (the real test would be on a different day if her application passed through), yet it was much more difficult to do than say. The building itself was intimidating her... Who knows how difficult it would be if she actually has to meet a higher up?

She eventually found the strength to walk inside the building. A secretary looked up as soon as she walked inside.

"May I help you today, miss?" her sing-song voice chimed from behind her desk.

"Uh, yes. I was told I needed to hand in these papers," she replied back, her voice shaky as she placed the sheets on top of the desk. The woman picked them up smiling and looked down at them. Her face instantly changed to one of surprise.

"A SOLDIER audition request? Are these for you?"

"Um, yes ma'am, they are..." Her voice trailed off as the lady's face seemed to fall again.

"I see..."

She stood a moment in silence as the woman began to write something on a document. After a few minutes, she decided to speak up again.

"Don't I have to... fill out something else?" she said, recalling how Zack had told her how his registration had went.

"The administrative forms that needed to be filled out before by applicants can now be filled out by myself, miss," she said, putting on a smile again. She couldn't help but feel that it felt fake.

"I see... Then I guess I will leave now," she said turning. She couldn't wait to be out of this awkward atmosphere.

"Wait a moment, miss," she heard behind her. "You didn't put your name on your application."

"My name?" she repeated, looking over her shoulder. The woman nodded.

"Oh. My apologies. It's Angel. My name is Angel."

* * *

_A/N: Prologue for _Flight of an Angel_, story requested by xSacredHearts. Please post your thoughts in a review, or if you have a suggestion for this story or a request for another one, send me a PM._

_This will be the only and last A/N I'm writing inside the story, as I like to keep the story as close as possible to a book. All other notes will be posted on my profile, besides the information reports I post every three chapters. (Chapters 3, 6, 9, etc.)_


	2. Rae's Endearment

Angel propped her feet up on the bar top, then immediately took them down, deciding against it - as she didn't want to upset her boss - and settled for spinning around in the swivel bar stool. She couldn't figure it out. It's been two weeks. Does verification really take that long?

Her feet unintentionally hit the bottom of the bar counter, stopping her from her spinning. She pushed off again, using the opportunity to begin spinning in the opposite direction. Her thoughts began to wander away from the original subject as she glanced down at her legs and feet. She wasn't very tall - about five-foot-eight - and the very fact that her feet could make contact with the bar surprised her enough. Well, now that she thought about it, five-foot-eight wasn't actually very short. It could actually be considered normal, if not beyond that. It was just being around all these tall people were starting to get her down.

Rae, for example, was five-eleven, practically six-foot. And the worst part was she had a tendency to rub it in, making her feel even worse about her height than she was before she met her. But she had no room to complain. After all, Rae _did_ give her a house.

Angel sighed, stopping to lay her head down on the counter, her long dark hair slipping out of the band she had secured on the top of her head, falling into her eyesight. It was lonely at the house now, now that Rae was gone.

* * *

About two months ago, the day she arrived at Midgar after the long travel from her village, a day she could remember as if it had happened only moments ago, had been one of the hardest days of her life. It wasn't as if there were enemies to fight (which there were, if you went between Sector Slums) or rude people to deter her (also some of those, just none she met that day). The main problem had been that she had no one at all to help her. She was used to the small town settings, one where everyone knew everybody and helped everybody out. But here everyone cared for themselves, or their families if they had them. At least that was what life was like above the plate.

Below the plate, in the Slums, was where life was more like it had been at home, each Sector like its own little town. If she had known this when she had first arrived, undoubtedly that would have been the first place she would've gone. Unfortunately, she had other ideas.

Even in the name, the "Slums", it didn't sound too appealing. If she was to choose a place to live, what's wrong with it being above ground, where she could see the sky and not feel as if she was choking on pollution or to not worry about cockroaches in every corner (a problem that had haunted her since childhood) and mice in every crack? Anyone who didn't have a reason to live under, should live above, right? Did her logic seem flawed?

However, after trying for the entire day to find lodging with the small amount of money she had - around 500 gil - she gave up and consented to sleeping on a nearby park bench. She slept there, or rather, she _shivered _there, until morning, preparing herself to return there the following night, _at least_ with some sort of blanket or coat of some sort.

Remembering a store that was offering a room above it for rent she had visited the day before, which the old man had offered to her for a whopping 100,000 gil lease (she couldn't remember ever seeing that much money in her life), that had sold items like blankets and other home necessities, she decided for that to be her next destination. Directly after that, she may consider stealing some food, something she had never considered doing before, but now seemed necessary. After all, the food she'd packed before she set out from home probably wouldn't last another day, at best. She was lucky to still have any of the dried fruits and breads still in her homemade patched up messenger bag. She was just lucky that she hated dried fruit more than any other foods she knew of. It's only purpose to her, to keep her alive. Nothing more. At least, not usually.

But today, a slice of unrealistically chewy dried orange (which shouldn't even be considered an orange after being mutilated in such a way) served as a perfect distraction to the day's unrealistic future goals, ones that yesterday felt could've easily been accomplished, today felt like something even Sephiroth could not do. Or maybe one had to be Sephiroth to get it done. Either way, it was impossible for her.

Opening the door to the store, toning down the chewy motions as to avoid any unnecessary embarrassing noises, she peered in, adjusting to the sudden difference in the lighting and noticed that there was a girl near the counter, seeming to be asking the man a few, or a thousand, questions about the dark satin curtains she held in her arms, lifting them to allow him to see whatever she was talking about. She almost laughed at the irritated look on his face. Almost makes you wonder why some people are in the consumer service industry. Almost does.

She quickly moved over to the wall that contained various materials, some of them raw, others woven or sewn into different products like the curtains the girl up front had or, in her case, cheap wool blankets. 389 gil.

_Damn it_, she mentally cursed, picking up the blanket. _That's just about everything I brought with me_. She felt almost as if she could cry, or at least knock a hole in the wall. Maybe if she made a big enough one, she could run away with the blanket. She swallowed the orange piece, lost in the beautiful thought.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" She heard screamed into her ear. It took everything she had to stop from gut-punching the girl and maybe even killing her. Everybody knows not to sneak up on a SOLDIER.

Well, future SOLDIERs should count too.

"Ex-Excuse me?" she stuttered back, staring into the girl's dark hazel-ish eyes, or what she guessed to be dark hazel-ish as the lighting wasn't very good. From up close, she saw more details than she could from far away. Her hair color, for instance. It was as bizarre as anything she had seen, as if someone had drained the color out of peaches (just as someone had drained the moisture from her peaches) and dyed it in her hair. Angel resisted the urge to touch it.

"You can't buy that cheap old thing!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide. Angel forgot about her urge to touch her hair and now focused on the urge incapacitate her. Even if she didn't have much money, she still had her pride.

"And why not? I have my money, and I can do whatever the hell I want to do with it. Now I suggest if you want your teeth tomorrow, you can go and focus on those _expensive_ _new_ curtains you've looked at this whole time and leave me the hell alone," Angel seethed, hoping the annoying little shit would back away. Or annoying tall shit. That works too.

However, to her dismay, the girl put on a giant grin and actually dared to lean in closer, cupping her hand around Angel's ear, eyeing the shopkeeper from across the room who had turned around and appeared to be taking an inventory of some sort, his bald head an abnormal red tint, seemingly from... anger? Angel took in what she could see of the girl beside her.

_Who is this girl?_, she asked herself.

"You see," the girl whispered, "when I was looking through the fabrics over here to find something to decorate my home with, I noticed a stain the size of my hand on that 'expensive new' curtain you saw. That's something very rare to find in this caliber a shop, so I confronted the owner up there. I got him to drop some very convincing clues about why it was stained."

Curious, Angel nodded for her to continue.

"I think that everything in this store is stolen."

The girl pulled back and stood there with that creepy grin on her face. Angel stood there confused. How did a stain turn to stolen goods?

"And?"

"And what?"

"How did you get that conclusion?"

"From his clues."

"What clues?"

"The clues he told me."

Angel stared hard and strong at the girl, telepathically demanding she tell her details before she actually asked for them, as if she was warning her. She took a deep breath and decided to take a different approach.

"You need to be careful. He may try to have you killed if that's true."

"Oh, he doesn't know I know."

"But I thought you said he accidentally let some clues go?" Angel said confused.

"He did. They were just so subtle he didn't realize he said them."

"Then how can you be so sure?" She gritted her teeth from frustration.

"Are you from out of town?"

Angel was so taken aback by the question that she almost forgot what they had been talking about before.

"Ye-Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"You look lonely," she replied simply.

How many physical restraints it takes to keep from slapping a single girl, the world may never know.

"Here," the girl said, reaching out her hand. "If you stay at my place, not only will it solve that problem, but it will get those bags out from under your eyes."

At mention of them, Angel's hand flew up to her face. She was right though. She didn't get hardly any sleep last night. Winter had been setting in, and the park bench might kill her in another week or two...

The very thought snapped her into action.

"I need to know your name, age, if and how many other people are living in the house, how much rent is, and any chores or duties I have to do," she said hurriedly.

The girl's wide grin somehow spread to be even wider, and laughed.

"I'm twenty-four. No one lives with me. My brother used to, but he recently moved out, so it gave me an extra room. No rent, but only if you do some manual labor that I'm not strong enough to do myself," she said, wiggling her arms in the thick green sleeves of her sweater, trying to get them to look like noodles. Angel couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

"Nineteen and I'll be more than happy to work for the room. Better than sleeping outside," Angel gave a smile. "Name's Angel. And yours?"

"Rae. Spelled R-A-E not R-A-Y. I am a girl; I'm not a guy. You best remember that 'til ya die!" she said, winking at her rhyming.

"Not bad," she laughed back.

"So you don't mind working then?" Rae asked, suddenly serious.

"No... Why?"

"You see, I live in the Slums, in Sector Eight, and the other day, the darndest thing happened..."

_Oh boy_.

"A piece of scrap _fell from the sky_ and landed on the roof of my brother's room, causing it to cave in. So he moved out of the house to live with a buddy 'cause he's too lazy to fix it himself and left it all on me-"

"So you want me to fix it," Angel eyed her.

"I figured if you really wanted a room, you wouldn't mind fixing up the roof on it. You can sleep on the couch 'til its done, and I'll pay for supplies and everything," Rae pleaded.

"Alright, alright."

"Great! You just saved me millions of gil! You're a lifesaver!"

"Yeah, yeah."

_She must be an evil mastermind_, she concluded, half in awe, half in frustration.

* * *

Rae had been the one who had helped her adjust to her life in Midgar. She introduced her to everyone who could help her out in any way and get her higher up on the social ladders. She even introduced her to her boss Cameron and got her a job working at a local bar joint. Once she got her funds up to a steady 20,000 gil ratio, she began to start on her original plans: To be part of SOLDIER. Once she had come home from submitting her application, while she was dressing for her night shift at the bar, Rae had given her some startling news.

Rae had recently gone to work at Shinra, not for her muscle, but for her brains. She was a good steady worker inside the building, and had made a good impression too, but she had not been working there long enough to get anywhere before they decided to move her.

"What do you mean you're leaving?" Angel panicked. They had become good friends the previous month and a half. Plus she didn't want to find a new place to live yet.

"There's a reactor in a town called Nibelheim a ways away from here. They shut it down awhile back. They need someone to maintenance it, to make sure nothing goes wrong. They need someone they can trust inside it without removing someone from a position they already have at Shinra," Rae said carefully.

"So that's why they chose you? You're a nobody and your trustworthy?"

"And I'm capable. Don't forget I'm capable."

"Do you want to go?" Angel asked. _Please say no. I don't have a lot of money now... Please say no._

"Angel... I've lived in Midgar my entire life. I don't know much about the outside. So truthfully, yes, I'm thrilled to go."

"Oh," Angel slumped down in the chair. _Maybe Cammy'll let me crash at the bar_, she thought gloomily.

"Angel. I have something I want to ask you," Rae said, sadly.

"Huh?" she said looking up.

"You're a good person for someone so young," Rae started.

_Great_, Angel thought._ She's chastising me about my age again._

"We're not that different in age," Angel started.

Rae smiled, but ignored the remark. "You remember my brother, correct?"

Angel almost grimaced, that perverted, idiotic, childish freak of nature. She wouldn't dare tell Rae this though. Rae loved him too much. Almost as if she felt he could do nothing wrong in her eyes. She nodded slowly. "I know Dan."

"Then you know how... immature he is? He's doing fine at his friend's house, but I don't want him alone in this house. So I wanted to know if you could watch the house until I return. If that's ok with you." Angel jerked her gaze up from the floor in surprise to look at Rae.

"And then Angel looks up suddenly, glistening with hope!" Rae giggled.

"Shut up. Don't make fun of me." Angel snapped.

* * *

And two weeks later, no reply from Shinra. And no more Rae. Angel closed her eyes. She sent a letter to Zack earlier in the day - the sixth time since she moved here - and hoped that he might actually come today. She might kill him if he doesn't.


End file.
